iPhone 7: Apple’s new phone could be waterproof and made of new material to hide antenna lines, leaks suggest

Apple has been quietly making the phones more and more water-resistant, without announcing it as a feature

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 30 December 2015 14:54 GMT
Comments
The little-known trick can make your iPhone run much quicker
The little-known trick can make your iPhone run much quicker (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The next iPhone could be waterproof and finally get rid of the antenna lines on its side, according to a new report.

The suggestion follows an increasing interest in making the phone more robust and even partially water-resistant — though Apple has so far stayed away from mentioning the latter.

The phone, which will probably be called the iPhone 7, will be made of a new material that will allow it to be waterproof, according to reports. Such a move would mean sealing off all of the parts of the phone that can let in water, including the ports and speakers that are on its bottom, and the buttons.

The reports, which came from DigiTimes, also suggest that the new phone might be redesigned to get rid of the antenna lines that wrap around the iPhone 6 and 6s on the back and sides. Currently there are strips of plastic around the phone’s edges, which allow the signal to get through the phone’s casing and to the antenna.

It isn’t clear whether the same waterproof feature could also be unveiled in the rumoured iPhone 6c, which is expected to launch at an event in March. But reports suggest that Apple could leave the feature until the new flagship phone is released, which is likely to come in September and would be called the iPhone 7 on Apple’s existing naming system.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in